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Accredited by the National Association of Private Schools

Elmwood Baptist Academy is fully accredited by the National Association of Private Schools

What is Accreditation?

The word accredit is an interesting word related to the same root word as credible, or believable. An accredited institution therefore is one that can be believed. It has earned the approval of those who know it. Accreditation means: This institution is fulfilling its stated purpose with integrity and excellence. A major problem arises, when a school seeks accreditation from agencies that do not understand the basic philosophy and uniqueness of an individual school.

Accreditation is a voluntary method of quality assurance developed more than 100 years ago by American universities and secondary schools, and designed primarily to distinguish schools adhering to a set of educational standards. The accreditation process is also known in terms of its ability to effectively drive student performance and continuous improvement in education. But such definitions, though accurate, are incomplete.

While accreditation is a set of rigorous protocols and research-based processes for evaluating an institution’s organizational effectiveness, it is far more than that. Today accreditation examines the whole institution—the programs, the cultural context, the community of stakeholders—to determine how well the parts work together to meet the needs of students.

For many, accreditation is both a significant achievement pronouncing an institution’s quality of education, as well as a remarkably enriching process for the institutions recognizing the tremendous competitive and performance gains it affords. Sadly, some schools approach accreditation as a necessary imposition that they must endure to secure the seal of accreditation, and the quicker they satisfy the requirements, the sooner they can return their attention to running their institutions. But it is those schools and school systems that see the untapped transformative power in the process of accreditation that are able to build true capacity to improve student learning and make continuous school improvement a distinctive reality.

Accreditation is inextricably linked to institution and educational system improvement. The accreditation process asks institutions and systems to critically evaluate their vision, strategies, priorities, leadership, and programs and resources. The process of earning and maintaining accreditation provides institutions and educational systems with clear and compelling direction for implementing changes to move toward excellence.

Why does Accreditation matter?

Private and Christian Schools are concerned about communicating the educational quality and academic excellence of their programs. Parents want to know, if the school is accredited and if the teachers are certified. Accreditation is designed to help educational institutions boost their ongoing performance efforts for the benefit of their students. This ethic of excellence ensures that institutions will find rich benefits from accreditation and that parents can confidently make informed decisions about their children’s education, knowing their child’s school is accredited. Accreditation matters because our students deserve the highest level of educational excellence possible.

Educational institutions that engage in Accreditation will:

Unite with a global network committed to standards of educational excellence.

Earn the distinction of quality through the recognized seal of NAPS accreditation.

Experience a unified, clear, and powerful accreditation process with a scalable and sustainable evaluation of education quality.

Receive external and objective validation of the areas in which they’re doing well, and the areas for continuous improvement.

Benefit from NAPS research that shapes educational policy and improves learning practices.

Students and their parents will:

Experience ease in transferring credits from one school to another.

Gain greater access to federal loans, scholarships, postsecondary education and military programs that require students attend an accredited institution.

Benefit from their institution or educational system’s commitment to raising student performance and accountability.